68 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



April, 



PRINCE OF AMERICAN BEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



He Tells American Bee-Keeper Readers Something 

 of His Early Career, Failures, Obstacles and 

 Successes. 



By W. L. Coggshall. 



FIRST, I liked houey and had a 

 fondness for insects, especially 

 bees. When but 10 years old — 

 1862 — we got our mail but once 

 a week, and I, being the young- 

 est, was sent for it, a mile dis- 

 tnat to a neighbor's usually on 

 Sunday morning. This "neighbor," 

 Mr. Metzgar, had bees; and I much 

 preferred seeing the bees swarin to 

 going to church, especially as in war 

 times the sermons lasted nearly one 

 and a half hours, and then Sunday 

 school, which augmented the interest 

 in bees on Sunday. Well do 1 remem- 

 ber the arguments my mother used to 

 hold with me because I failed to goi 

 home earlier with the mail on Sunday 

 morning; as waiting for me caused 

 them to be late for church. If I re- 

 member correctly, they did not always 

 wait, and this was quite agreeable to 

 myself. 



Well, the outcome was that father 

 got a "skep" of bees so that I might 

 see them swarm at home; and they 

 did swarm — up in the spare room where 

 they were put for winter — one warm 

 day in March. Oh, how I did mourn 

 the loss of those bees. 



The next year my grandfather gave 

 D. H., my older brother, one "skep," 

 and how well I remember splitting 

 elder stalks and cleaning out the pith 

 and slipping it into the hives to catch 

 the worms of the moth-miller, which 

 destroys so many bees. They cast a 

 big swarm, and the next year D. H. 

 bought Kidder's book on bees, as well 

 as a farm right to make his patent 

 hive. 



In 1866 I bought a "skep" for $5.00. 

 It cast three swarms, and I got $8.00 

 worth of honey. The next year the 

 firm of coggshall Bros, was formed. 

 The capital stock was not in the thous- 

 ands. We had about thirty colonies in 

 Kidder and box-hives. These were put 

 into the cellar to winter, but in the 

 spring were taken out nearly all dead. 

 This was a serious loss to us, but we 

 were not entirely discouraged, and 

 soon bought more bees; so that in 



1S68 we had eighty colonies. That 

 winter we aauled in logs and with 

 horse-power and u saw-table built 

 by my brother, we cut and made 150 

 Langstroth hives. Those hives are in 

 use today. Tney were painted two 

 coats of paint. Rignt nere I beg to 

 say that I honestly think that a square 

 joint is better than either a miter or 

 dovetail, for durability — and they are 

 certainly cheaper. The severe winter 

 of 1869-70 resulted in the loss of our 

 bees; but we stocked up, and by 1871 

 we again had eighty colonies. 



My brother made an extractor, using 

 the gearing of an apple-paring machine 

 in its construction. I'his was the first 

 extractor in the country. Our crop of 

 3,000 pounds of extracted honey was 

 sold to C. O. Parrine at 12 1-2 to 15 

 cents a pound, wholesale. Parrine, it 

 will be remembered, is the man who 

 tried the floating apiary on the Missis- 

 sippi river; and I want to say right 

 here that this plan will be successfully 

 consummated at no very distant date. 

 It will be made a success, and my own 

 hands itch to assist in carrying on the 

 scheme. 



In 1872 we had another severe win- 

 ter, which resulted in tne loss of one- 

 half of our bees. In 1873 we sold our 

 crop of extracted honey to Mr. Par- 

 rine at 17 cents a pound. 



In 1876 the firm of Coggshall Bro- 

 thers dissolved, and I did not get 

 stocked up again until the season of 

 1877. In the spring or 1878 I received 

 a check in payment for noney of $341.- 

 70. That was the check that set me 

 up in the bee business. I commenced 

 to buy bees. In 1880 I had 125 col- 

 onies. The winter of 1880-81 was an- 

 other hard one' — the mei-cury being 

 below zero for three weeks or .January 

 — and 70 per cent, of the bees out of 

 doors were lost. Then I stocked up, 

 and the year of 1882 was the best I 

 have ever known for bees. My aver- 

 age being 200 pounds of honey per col- 

 ony, one-fourth box or section honey 

 which I sold at 18 to 20 cents; and the 

 extracted at 8 to 10 cents per pound, 

 wholesale. 



Since that time I have continued to 

 buy bees wherever I could do so to 

 advantage; and here I might state that, 

 with four exceptions, every one of my 

 twenty apiaries represents some one 

 M'ho has become discouraged at bee- 

 keeping. Up to 1894 I invariably made 



